Traditionally, the microphones used with drums have been ordinary microphones, which have been mounted beside the drums by means of a special holder designed for this purpose. A drawback with these arrangements is especially the fact that such a microphone is very sensitive to receive other sounds, too, from around the drums. In addition, they are difficult to install, and the microphone impedes the drumming and is susceptible to damage.
Drum microphones placed inside drums are also known. A drum microphone of this type Is disclosed in specification DE 4122316, which describes a microphone designed to be fitted inside a drum and secured inside the drums by means of a mounting part fitted in a hole provided on the side of the resonance chamber of the drums. The microphone connection cable leading to the amplifier is then plugged into a connector in the mounting part.
Also known in prior art are strip-like electret microphones, e.g. B-Band's DST transducer, which is a so-called electret bubble film transducer, mounted inside a drum e.g. below the membrane, at the upper edge of the resonance chamber. Microphones fitted inside drums effectively prevent extraneous noise from getting mixed with the drum sound to be passed to the amplifier.
In drum microphones, the sound is then passed to a separate amplifier placed outside the drum and comprising a preamplifier, which adapts the drum signal for other amplifier stages e.g. for loudspeakers or recording. A drawback with existing amplifier arrangements is their complicated structure and especially the fact that the preamplifier is mounted separately from the drum.